A-10 Ranks 5th in GSR; Menís Basketball Ranks 2nd Nationally

Release: 10/24/2013

NEWPORT NEWS, Va.—The Atlantic 10 Conference ranks fifth among 31 conferences in the NCAA's Graduation Success Rate (GSR), marking the third straight year the league has been ranked in the top five in the annual ratings. Measured in a six-year window, the GSR, which was released Thursday, records the graduation rate of freshman that enrolled in an A-10 institution in 2006.

The A-10 boasted 62 teams with a perfect GSR of 100, which represents one-third of all Atlantic 10 teams (62 out of 182). Those 62 teams graduated each student-athlete that initially enrolled between 2003 to 2006.

"We frequently spotlight the strength of the A-10 academically, and today's Graduation Success Rate shows that. To be ranked in the top five for the third straight year and to have 62 of our programs finish with perfect GSR scores shows the commitment our member institutions and our student-athletes have to their academic success and growth," stated A-10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade.

The league ranked second among all 31 conferences in the sport of men's basketball, a conference record, and has trended upward each of the last four years, resulting in a 90 percent graduation success rate for A-10 men’s basketball student athletes who initially enrolled with the program in 2006. Every single A-10 women’s basketball team was at or above the GSR for all of Division I. Women’s basketball also ranks fourth overall among all 31 conferences.

In addition to placing both basketballs in the top five among all conferences, Atlantic 10 baseball is also fifth among the 31 conferences.

Overall, across the NCAA, Division I student-athletes who entered college in 2006 earned their degrees at a rate of 82 percent - the highest ever. Since the NCAA first began tracking the Graduation Success Rate with student-athletes who entered college in 1995, the rate has increased 8 percentage points.

Measured also as a four-year metric, the Graduation Success Rate for the most recent four graduating classes of all Division I student-athletes (entering college between 2003-2006) climbed to 81 percent. That figure is an all-time high for the NCAA. More than 1,800 student-athletes who entered college in 2006 graduated within six years than otherwise would have otherwise had the GSR remained at the level it was for the 1995 cohort. Over the last 12 years, that means 11,388 more graduates due to the increase in the GSR. The NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate includes transfer students and student-athletes who leave in good academic standing, unlike the federal graduation rate, which does not count transfers. The GSR and federal rate calculations measure graduation over six years from first-time college enrollment.